Pesticides and Integrated Pest Management

This page provides a basic overview of pesticides and integrated pest management for local governments in Washington State, including relevant laws, local examples, and helpful resources.

Overview

A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest. Pests can be insects, mice and other animals, unwanted plants (weeds), fungi, or microorganisms like bacteria and viruses.

Pesticides can be harmful to humans and the environment, so the federal and state governments regulate their use and some local governments have adopted policies to reduce pesticide use.

RCW 15.58.030(31) states that “pesticides” includes, but is not limited to:

Any substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, control, repel, or mitigate any insect, rodent, snail, slug, fungus, weed, and any other form of plant or animal life or virus, except virus on or in a living person or other animal which is normally considered to be a pest or which the director may declare to be a pest;

Any substance or mixture of substances intended to be used as a plant regulator, defoliant or desiccant; and

What is Integrated Pest Management?

Integrated pest management refers to the process of minimizing pests using a variety of strategies, with the goal of reducing the use of chemical pesticides and using less-toxic pesticides whenever possible. Ch. 17.15 RCW requires designated state agencies to use integrated pest management, and many local governments have adopted their own IPM policies.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has cited Portland, Oregon's Parks Integrated Pest Management Program as a model. See Portland Parks and Recreation Invasive Plant & Pest Management.

State and Local Pesticide Regulation

The use of pesticides under state law is governed by the Washington Pesticide Application Act, chapter 17.21 RCW, which authorizes the state Department of Agriculture to regulate pesticide application and use. This chapter preempts cities and counties from regulating pesticide application and use. However, first class cities with a population of 100,000 or more, and the counties in which they are located, can regulate structural pest control operators, exterminators, and fumigators (RCW 17.21.305).

The Washington Pesticide Control Act, chapter 15.58 RCW, authorizes the Department of Agriculture to regulate formulation, distribution, storage, and disposal of pesticides. This chapter does not preempt cities and counties from regulating these activities, so long as the local regulations do not conflict with state law. See AGO 1993 No. 5.

Use of Pesticides by Local Governments

State Permits

Government employees who apply any "restricted use pesticide" (defined in WAC 16-228-1231) or any pesticide by means of an "apparatus" (defined in RCW 17.21.020(4)), are required to have a public operator license issued by the state Department of Agriculture (RCW 17.21.220). The license must be renewed annually, and the bearer must take continuing education training courses over each five-year period to maintain certification (RCW 17.21.128, RCW 17.21.132).

A public operator license is not necessary for off-the-shelf products applied by hand.

For more information on public operator licenses, see the following pages:

Vancouver Integrated Pest Management Plan (2014) – Includes general pesticide guidelines for all city properties, as well as more stringent guidelines for salmon bearing stream corridors, school/park properties, and special protection areas surrounding municipal water stations.

Banning Certain Pesticides

Below are examples of local policies banning the use of all or certain pesticides.

Seattle Resolution No. 31548 (2014) – City will not purchase neonicotinoids, which have potentially been linked to bee pollinator die-offs, and will only use pollinator-friendly weed and pest control methods. Encourages local businesses and federal government to take similar steps.

WA Department of Health: Pesticides - Information on the health impacts of pesticides, including tips for reducing pesticide exposure, information on pesticide use in schools, and data on pesticide-related illnesses